National Workshop

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in Pakistan

Labour Education Foundation (LEF),

In collaboration with

Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC)

January 26-27, 2013

Hotel Ambassador

Lahore, Pakistan

Background and Rationale:

The population of Pakistan is around 177.10 million. In terms of population, it is the sixth most populous

country of the world with a growth rate of 2.07 percent. If the same trend continues, by the year 2015

Pakistan will reach 191.7 million and 242.1 million by 2030. Pakistan will become the 4th largest nation

on Earth by the year 2050. The total labour force of Pakistan is 54.92 million, 33 percent of total

population is associated with labour work. This makes Pakistan’s 9th principal nation in the globe in

terms of the volume of its work force in 2010.

Occupational Safety and Health issue has become focus of workers organizations and media in recent

past in Pakistan when in two factory fires more than 325 workers lost their lives in the month of

September 2012. These accidents were the worst industrial accidents happened in recent history. OSH

has never been a priority of the governments in Pakistan nor it has been understood and addressed

properly by the trade union movement. Education on OSH issues has remained a weak point of the

trade union movement in Pakistan. Although Pakistan has labour laws underlying satisfactory measures

to be taken for safe working conditions for workers but implementation on such laws has been very

weak. Recent factory fires indicate this grave violation of labour laws by the employers and criminal

weakness on part of concerned government departments.

Although much has been written about the occupational health safety (OHS) issues in Pakistan but none

of these reports are comprehensive. Most of these reports are regional and occupational sector specific

with the marginal sample sizes. Government so far has not considered any conclusions suggested in

these reports due to which even today occupational hazards and criminal lack of safety measures still

exists in the society and workers of Pakistan are faced with life threats due to work.

Majority of the workforce in Pakistan is illiterate and not trained in occupational safety and health.

Moreover OSH is not included in any curricula in Pakistan. The number of occupational health physicians

and nurses is far less compared to the total workforce in Pakistan. This means that occupational health

system is not established in the country.

Although OSH conditions in export oriented industries (sports goods, surgical instruments

manufacturing and textile industries) is encouraging but generally they are poorly organised in most of

the industries.

The only governmental institute that trains workers about OHS in Pakistan is “Centre for the

Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment”. This center was established in 1988, in Lahore,

Pakistan jointly by the Punjab’s Province Directorate of Labor Welfare, Finnish Institute of Occupational

Health and ILO.

Although, the governments had proposed OHS ombudsman and tripartite monitoring councils in the

Labor Policy 2001 and 2010 but so far no steps have been taken in this regard. Additionally, Factories

Act 1934 gives monitoring power to the district magistrate of each district but in actual there is no

trained staff to carry on such monitoring. For example Punjab, which is the largest province of Pakistan

only, has 2 technical inspectors of factories and one industrial hygienist for the monitoring of 36 districts

of Punjab. Also Factories Act 1934 is not applicable to the enterprises employing less than ten workers.

It does not give coverage to the workers in the agriculture sector, informal/home-based and seasonal

workers. Whereas the role of inspecting staff of Labour and Human Resource department should not be

only prosecuting but to give an advisory services to the management as well.

Lack of understanding, inspections, reporting and legislation have exaggerated the OHS problem in

Pakistan. Due to the above mentioned facts, working sites in Pakistan are still vulnerable to the OHS

hazards. The need to address OHS problem has become inevitable now, with every passing day more

and more workforce will get affected from this problem.

National Workshop on Occupations Safety and Health in Pakistan was the first joint effort by AMRC and

LEF for developing a road map of working on OSH issues in Pakistan. Discussions between AMRC and LEF

on organizing this workshop started after LEF’s participation in AMRC’s activities since 2011. Both

organizations are also members of Global Network, a project of International Federation of Workers’

Education Associations (IFWEA). As many as 30 participants, including trade union leaders, lawyers,

doctors and media persons, attended the workshop.

Day-1

January 26, 2013

The first day of the workshop focused on sharing of national and international experiences regarding

OSH issues, sharing of OSH situation in different sectors of employment in Pakistan, legal aspects of

OSH, role of government institutions and role of media regarding OSH issues.

Workshop introduction:

Khalid Mahmood, director of LEF started the workshop with brief introduction of the participants and

highlighted the objectives of the workshop. He said the labour in Pakistan was not properly aware of the

issued and concept of occupational safety health and its importance. He gave a picture of the advanced

world including European countries where this issue of OSH is considered highly important for the safety

and welfare of the workers in factories. He said the main aim of the workshop was to discuss the key

issues pertaining to health and safety of workers and labour force in different parts of Pakistan and plan

to move forward by building a proper network of labour force and trade union representatives for

evolving a strategy to secure the rights of workforce. He said the accidents in Karachi and Lahore those

caused the tragic deaths of more 350 workers in three different incidents in Pakistan in a span of a year

gave them serious moments of thoughts to reviews what is happening on the occupational safety and

health side of workers in the country.

AMRC introduction:

Ismail Fahmi of AMRC briefly talked about AMRC. He said AMRC works for the independent labour force

and their rights. He said workers movement is faced with various challenges. He said by working closely

with partners in Asia, through its program, AMRC challenge the prevailing power imbalance by

encouraging the re-constitution of workers collective bargaining power. He said AMRC helps in capacity

building to improve negotiation and bargaining skills, research and experience sharing in designing

networks against union busting and elaborate research on special economic zones in six countries in

Asia. It also helps in highlighting the issues of occupational safety and health of workers.

CCC introduction:

Katia of CCC, France, introducing said the CCC is dedicated to improving working conditions and

supporting the empowerment of workers in the global garment and sportswear industries. She said

since 1989 the CCC has worked to help ensure that the fundamental rights of workers are respected. We

educate and mobilize consumers, lobby companies and governments, and offer direct solidarity support

to workers as they fight for their rights and demand better working conditions. She said the CCC is an

alliance of organizations in 15 European countries. Members include trade unions and NGOs covering a

broad spectrum of perspectives and interests, such as women’s rights, consumer advocacy and poverty

reduction. CCC also collaborates with a partner network of more than 200 organizations and unions in

garment-producing countries to identify local problems and objectives, and to help in developing

campaign strategies to support workers in achieving their goals. She also told the participants how the

CCC works how the urgent appeal mechanism works. She said the CCC facilitates and helps but does not

lead the campaign. It evolves methodology together. The CCC does not negotiate on behalf of workers.

Later, the participants from different trade unions, labour organizations and workers from different

sectors in Pakistan talked about their issues, especially pertaining to occupational safety and health.

Workers’ representatives from different sectors, including textile, power looms, garments, bonded

labour, informal sector, and others highlighted OSH issues in their receptive sectors.

Sector Presentations:

Tariq Awan of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) in his presentation on overall

OSH situation of country’s workforce said many laws exist, those in bits and pieces, protect or explain

the safety and health rights of the workers in different sectors but unfortunately those are not

implemented in later and spirit. He said a few years ago PILER conducted a research on labour force of

the country to collect the data and issues of the workers and it was known that the majority of the

workers or not registered or they are working in un-registered factories that is why they cannot talk

about their rights. He said in the majority zones there are not unions or it is difficult to register a union

to raise voice for the rights of the workers. He said their study proved that there is no particular data of

workers describing their health and safety situation. He said in the country there had been ban on

inspection of factories for 11 years and when even after the lifting of the ban the inspections are not

done in a proper way. He said 97 percent work force of the country is not unionized. He said the unions

those are functional are also unaware about the issues of health and safety.

Niaz Khan general secretary of Ittehad Labour Union Carpet Industries Pakistan said more than 90

percent carpets made in factories or by hand are exported. There are issues regarding the use of

chemical while making these carpets which affects the skin and health of the workers. He said mostly no

safety guards are opted for the workers during the weaving of the carpets. He said when workers ask for

safety guards in the units owners resist and sometimes fire the workers on such demands. There is no

job security when you raise these issues. He called for joint strategy to cope these challenges and issues

related to OSH.

AslamMiraj of Labour Qaumi Movement, a power looms factories workers’ organization in Faisalabad

said there are more than 15 districts in Punjab those have power loom but only five percent workers of

this sector are registered. He said more than 500,000 workers are working in these looms. He said many

workers are seriously sick and are having tuberculosis. He said there are having contaminated water

which is further causing Hepatitis. He said another major general disease in power loom sector is

deafness which is because of the noise of the machines.

Nawab Ali of Sindh Garments and Hosiery Workers Union said child labour in the garment sector is a

serious problem. He said wages are not proper and are not given on time. He said there are no

safeguards for cleanliness and there are not proper fire extinguishing systems installed in majority units.

He said even government is not doing efforts to give the due rights to workforce in this sector. He said

the workers in this sector had to do long duties which prolong from 16 to 18 hours a day. He said the

workers are having tuberculosis and lungs diseases. He said no safety measures are opted while using

chemicals in the factories.

YousafNaz who represented cement factories said sound, dust; and heat are the major issues pertaining

to OSH in this sector. He said mostly workers work in a dirty environment and no measures are done for

ensuring cleanliness. He said cement is also exported at large scale but the workers’ OSH rights are not

taken care. He also said the cement factories are destroying environment of the local areas due to heavy

dust.

Malik Noor Hussain representing mines workers said there are many rock slat mines in different parts of

the Punjab province. He said the majority of the mines workers is not registered properly and the do not

have any particular facilities while doing this great work. He also mentioned about a latest accident in a

mine where three workers lost their lives and no compensation is paid to them because these workers

were not registered.

Hussain Ahmed, representing workers union in Phillip & Morris Tobacco company, said that the union

mechanism is new in this sector. He said many workers of this sector are suffering from cancer. He said

during the work no masks are provided to them. He said there are issues of breathing as well because of

the tobacco dust.

Muhammad Ismail, former worker of Ali Enterprises Karachi in which more than 300 workers died due

to fire on 11th September 2012. He was present in the factory at the time of fire. He said that workers

were used to work for long hours like 10 to 12 hours a day. There was no proper safety equipment

provided to workers against fire and dust. There was no emergency exit in the factory due to which

workers could not come out from basement and other floors when fire started. Factory management

used to put first aid boxes in the floors when auditors were coming for inspection.

RaziaLiaqat, a home based worker from Lahore said that she is working to make decoration pieces for

which she is using a chemical glue named as Samad Bond which catches fire very fast. This material is

adhesive and make works feel dizzy. This is very dangerous for lungs and throat. She also said that home

based workers have to work sitting in one position for long hours which is causing joint and muscle

pains.

MussawarNaqvi from Multan, south Punjab, who represented agriculture engineering sector, said

agriculture sector was the biggest work sector in south Punjab but if you go and observe the situation of

the OSH you will be surprised that no safety guards are used for these poor workers in different

factories. He said major factories in these areas were of chemical and pesticide manufacturing.

Mahmood Butt, representing brick kiln workers, said this was one of the biggest informal sectors of the

country where workers are treated like slaves. There is no concept of OSH at all. You will hardly find any

facilities for the workers while they are at work.

Abdul Rehmanfrom a factory in Swat said that workers’ security is the biggest issue in that area as many

factories export their stuff and the poor labour of these factories is kidnapped for easy money or to

threaten the owners. He said the majority of the workers in the factories in the area are unregistered so

they cannot claim their rights.

AsifToor from RustamSuharab bicycle factory said that there are serious issues of OSH while workers are

at work, especially near fire where steal is melted. He mentioned recently happened couple of incidents

where workers injured or burnt in different incidents but no body cared much about them from the

management side.

Dr Tariq Sultan Pasha and Mr. Mujahid of Centre for Improvement and Working Conditions

and Environment (CIWCE), Punjab government:

In their presentations, the government officers highlighted the role of government agencies, especially

their department, in observing the OSH situation. They said workers themselves are the best judge of

the situation they face but for that they need awareness. He said labour policy 2010 talks about labour’s

health and safety issues. The presentation of Dr. Tariq is attached in Annexures.

Legal Perspective:

Asmat Kamal, Senior Advocate Supreme Court of Pakistan told the participants about six different laws

related to the OSH rights of labour. He said there are laws but mostly those are not implemented. It’s a

failure on the part of the government. He said trade unions are also not working for this. He said first

law regarding OSH came in India in 1855 which was called Fatal Accident Act which covered the

compensation for injuries and death. According to this act civil law suites could also be filed. In 1923

Workman Compensation Act was formulated. According to this law death grant and different types of

compensations were given in cases of disabilities. According to this law every district should have one

commissioner for workers compensation. In 1938, an employee liability act was introduced. In 1965,

there was an employee social security act. There is also scheme of old age benefit. He said laws are

there but labourers had to be united to get their rights. He also called for proper networking giving

awareness to the workers.

Occupational Health Medical Perspective:

DrHumaTabassum, occupational safety health consultant, said pre-employment medical test of the

workers is must in the factories. She also talked about ensuring Personal Protective Equipment. She said

PPE is very important to prevent diseases. She said according to rules training of workers for safety is

also must. She said it has been generally observed that during the audit time factories equip workers

fully and show all things up to the standards but later these standards are not followed at all. She said

the purpose of the occupational safety and health measures is to promote and maintain highest degree

of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; prevent among workers all

departures from Health caused by their working condition; protect workers in their employment from

risks resulting from factors adverse to health; and, place and maintain the worker in an occupational

environment adapted to his physiological and psychological capacity. She said occupational health

involves predicting vulnerabilities, promoting good health and protecting the workforce.Exposure levels

in the workplace can be much higher than those in general environment.Occupational health deserves

more focus because ill-health effects may not manifest for a long period of time.The Health Risk

Assessment identifies, evaluates and seeks ways to control the impact of occupational hazards to the

worker; hence preventing illnesses acquired through such direct workplace exposures. She said a

responsible company goes beyond occupational health to promote general health and well-being.

Highlighting the key elements of Occupational Health Program are Health Risk Assessment (HRA);

monitoring of Health Performance and Incident Reporting & Investigation; fitness to Work (FTW); local

health facilities and medical emergency response; and wellness Program – which includes healthy

lifestyle workshops, stress management program, well women’s clinic, travel health clinic.

Day-II

January 27, 2013

Second day of the workshop started with brief warp-up of yesterday’s discussion. The participants

talked about the information and knowledge which they gained from yesterday’s discussion, especially

the presentations by the legal and medical experts on OSH. They said many things were new for them

and they were not aware of the OSH issues properly. The CCC’s urgent appeal system in different

campaigns attracted many participants. They called for more gatherings on such issues and engaging

other groups and leadership of trade unions to talk about the OSH. They urged to focus on future with

more vigorous discussions on the issues of OSH to improve the health and safety situation of the labour

class of Pakistan.

The discussion was followed by some more input of the trade unionists and workers’ representatives

from other sectors including people from different textile and bicycle factories in different parts of the

country. Main sessions of the OSH workshop on second day were presentations and discussions by the

CCC and AMRC representatives.

Sector Situation Discussion:

Khalid Mahmood, a trade unionist of Crescent Bahoman factory in district Hafizabad in central Punjab

said that in their factory the procedure of making independent union was very difficult. He said there

had been threats from the owners on forming an independent union for the rights of the laboureres. He

also talked about the issues pertaining to sandblasting and the kind of diseases this process leave on

workers’ bodies. He said no safety guards were being used for the workers in different operations in the

factory. He also talked about the delayed court procedures in labour court to decide the cases about the

rights of the workers. He said he along with some others was fired from the factory in 2004 on making

an independent union and despite passing eight years he is fighting for his rights in the courts and there

is no final verdict from the courts yet.

CCC presentations:

The representatives from the CCC gave presentations on different campaigns of the organization in

different countries. The CCC representatives, Clare Nally from Ireland, Smantha Maher from United

Kingdom, and FraukeBanse from Germany gave their presentations highlighting their work on OSH in

different countries on different issues.

Clare Nally, Ireland:

She highlighted CCC’s efforts and the on sand blasting in Turkey campaign. She talked about the

sandblasting in the denim industry. She also explained the process of sandblasting. She said sandblasting

is a process applied to give jeans their worn-out look. The process blasts denim with sand at high

pressures to wear away the top surface of the textile and has long been practiced in the global garment

industry. The effect became increasingly popular in jean trends over the past decade adding

considerable value to the final product. While other techniques such as stone-washing or enzyme

treatments result in the same effects, the relative low cost, simple techniques and more importantly the

speed that orders can be completed, sandblasting remains a favoured process in the fast fashion

industry.

She said sandblasting accelerates the process of Silicosis. Representatives from the mining industry are

probably familiar with this disease. It is an irreversible and incurable lung disease caused by inhalation of

dust particles from the sand.

She said sandblasting was traditionally a process used in the mining and construction industry and strict

restrictions and regulations have been imposed on these industries since the ILO/WHO International

Programme on the Global Elimination of Silicosis launched in 1995, however, these restrictions and

regulations do not apply to SB in the garment industry. But while miners and construction workers could

be expected to develop silicosis after 15 to 20 years of exposure, due to the lack of regulations, health

and safety standards and the intensity of production, silicosis has been diagnosed in garment workers

after as little as 6 months exposure.

She said as a result of the CCC’s 2010 ‘Killer Jeans’ campaign started from Turkey, many companies have

banned the use of sandblasting in their clothing lines, but a new CCC report reveals that regardless of

whether a brand has ‘banned’ sandblasting or not, sandblasting – both manual and mechanical – is still

commonly used.

She said the CCC would like to extend this research to Pakistan to determine the extent of SB in the

Pakistani garment industry. Turkish government has banned the process, and SB workers have received

compensation in the form of a permanent pension, despite being unregistered and with out contracts.

It’s important to not that despite most of the SB workers in Turkey being unregistered workers and with

out contracts they were still entitle to compensation in the form of an occupational pension. She said at

the moment CCC Ireland are seeking for an EU import ban on sandblasted denim. To facilitate an

exchange between Bangladesh and Turkish doctors to improve knowledge and share experiences of

sandblasting diagnosis, treatment, awareness and follow up.

She said this process of SB is cheapest and also used in mines. ILO and WHO banned sandblasts in

construction and mines but not on garments. She said due to the CCC efforts along with the local trade

unions, Turkey government officially banned it but despite all unregistered labour and they were given

compensation and permanent pension and benefits. Then CCC also realized that it in BD garments

industry is also doing sand blasts. She said Turkey helped BD workers and labour union and now the CCC

can also do the same campaign in Pakistan on Turkey and BD style if we are given more information

about this issue in Pakistan. She talked about sharing knowledge or information

SamnathaMahar, United Kingdom:

She said in the last 15 years there have been many fire incidents were alarming and deaths are more

than 1000. In 2005, 64 workers died in BD while working in the factories manufacturing garments for

American and European brands. She said, the CCC in partnership with the labour and trade unions in the

BD worked on a campaign calling for compensation for the workers. As result of the campaign, first time

in history, BD workers were given compensation. Many international brands also agreed to pay

compensation after two years negotiations. She said the CCC also managed to the compensation to the

injured and the government and factories also agreed to pay life pensions to the injured victims. She

said these pensions were different based on the levels of injuries. The medical expenses were also paid

by an international brand. The amounts were negotiated with the unions and the pensions were half of

the amount they were being paid. Half of the minimum wage in BD was given a life pension and this was

a victory. She said it took six years to make all efforts and the victims started getting pensions and later

the workers demanded that we should be given lump-sum amount because they were not satisfied with

the procedure of paying money pension. She said the important thing was to make this campaign and

collaborate it with local groups.

She said the formula devised in result of this campaign later became a model in the other incidents and

huge amounts were paid in 2010. She said according to that particular formula 45 percent compensation

would be paid from international buyers, 28 percent by the factory management, and 18 percent by the

BD export association and nine percent to be paid by the BD government. She said the association had

also created an insurance fund. They had it earlier but they were not using it. She said the similar model

was implemented in two other cases of compensation to the victim workers and their families. In later

payments it has been seen that international brands and factory owners but association and

government did not pay.

She said this is how pressures are built to get the rights and you can find a way out. The lessons we leant

that we have to keep some things in mind to get all these compensation we need an effective and active

trade union and active survivors of these accidents and incidents and families of the deceased along

with coordinated effort and campaign with international groups. She said it is important so that the

procedure can be made transparent and viable and trustworthy with joint collaborations at all level. She

said the important thing is to work on the campaigns to try to prevent such incidents and develop

programmers with the partners to redress these issues so that such causalities could not happen and to

improve fire safety situation in future. She said in the BD campaign they had BD fire and building safety

programme engaging groups at national level which is funded by international buyers and they are

developing a multi stakeholder committee engaging safety experts coming up with the list of

improvements they need. She said every worker would be ensured to participate in these trainings on

safety issues. These committees would be set at different levels from national to factory level. She said

the CCC’s other campaign is to push the international brands not to give orders to such factories if they

are not applying all safety rules. And the committees would also work on finding substitute jobs for the

workers of the factories those would not be given orders or cancelled. She said the whole programmer

would be funded by international buyers. The factory inspection report would be available on internet

and every procedure would be made transparent. She said at the moment CCC campaign is engage and

get this whole agreement signed by all international companies those are buying stuff from BD factories.

FraukeBanse, Germany:

She talked abut the CCC campaign focused on the issue of 300 workers burning in fire in a Karachi,

Pakistan factory Ali Enterprises. She said the campaign was linked to Germany as a German company

Kick was involved in buying stuff and with the Ali Enterprises incident it got really bad publicity. She said

everybody knew that this company was getting stuff from Ali enterprises and was under pressure to

save its repute> Due to the CCC pressures the company signed a MoU with the PILER, a Pakistani NGO.

The signatures on this agreement are a success and first step towards compensations. She said as per

agreement Kick agrees to pay one million USD as compensation to the victims in this incident. This

money will be used for the families those are still not compensated by the government. This amount

would be equal to the amount the government paid to identified victims. She said this is the only first

step and the CCC is also trying to find whether there are more factories working on without fire and

safety rules in Pakistan. She said to make the whole procedure transparent the PILER has asked Sindh

High Court to make a committee. The MoU continues and if court does not assist PILER, the organization

would initiate an independent body to deal with the compensation. She said this is only first step

towards success and achievement of the rights we have to keep up this struggle. We on CCC side will

further pressure Kick and we will also focus on the audit firms those made false reports clearing this

factory this is an Italian company. She said this is first time that the CCC is focusing on audit firms so we

are strategizing because they are not public like brands they are more private. She said some audit

companies are doing bad job in different factories and if we manage to put pressure on such companies

that would be a further success. She said they are also trying to engage trade union and workers unions

those are working in the stores where this stuff is sold and they have agreed to become part of this

campaign. She said they need multi side efforts especially on both sides local and international to

achieve this goal. She said on the BD style we have to think to strategize in Pakistan and develop a

network which can safeguard workers’ rights and prevent such incidents.

AMRC Presentation:

Fahmi Ismaelin his detailed presentation, he said growth of factories is on the rise in the world but

labour is suffering more. It is having adverse affect on labour and the factories are following the concept

of cheap labour with exploitation and threats to shift the factories to other cheap places if the unions

call fro their rights. He said in Indonesia owners threat to shift factories to China, while in China they

threat to move towards Vietnam. While in Vietnam when workers call for their rights Cambodia and the

Cambodian factory owners threat the labour to move units to BD. He said labour all over the world is

suffering, especially on the issues of OSH. He called for efforts at grassroots level. He said AMRC is also

issuing reports and collecting data on these issues and wants to include Pakistan in its next report

highlighting the issues related to OSH in this developing country. He talked about the enforcement of

laws and consistent inspection and studying and observing self-regulatory efforts and code of conduct

because at many places these issued are not covered not under any law. He called for joint struggle and

need campaigns in Pakistan with the hopes of having a network in Pakistan in near future.

“It is thus estimated that 2.34 million people died from work-related accidents or diseases in 2008, of

which 2.02 million were caused by various types of disease and 321,000 from work-related accidents.

This equates to an average of more than 6,300 work-related deaths every day”

ILO World Congress, Istanbul 2010

• 1.1 million persons are estimated to die in Asia due to work related reasons

• This is yet tip of the iceberg as these figures are just ‘estimates’

• The ILO provides global estimates every two years

• Enforcement remains weak and ill funded in almost all the countries

• Number of factory inspectors is very less and humanly not possible to inspect the factories

• India has 900 inspectors for more than 300,000 factories

• Philippines has 235 factory inspectors for 800,000 workplaces

• Many governments in the region have reduced the enforcement drastically and instead are

emphasising on self regulatory standards.

• In Philippines a company having more than 200 workers does not require state inspection.

• Most countries are promoting self regulation.

• ILO maintains occupational diseases are major cause of work related fatalities nearly 80%.

• Countries is still in ‘Accident Prevention Mode’, not paying attention to the occupational disease

• Occupational diseases remain underreported

• India reported a total of 7 cases in year 2005

• Cambodia and Indonesia report none at all.

• China has recorded 749,970 (1949 to 2010)

What is needed?

• Recognise the magnitude of problem and existence of victims.

• OSH as a fundamental human right. OSH is political issue.

• Protect all workers irrespective of their legal status, especially the undocumented, informal

and migrant workers

• Prompt and immediate treatment, just compensation and rehabilitation within a reasonable

timeframe.

• Proper diagnosis of occupational diseases by providing sufficient diagnostic clinics and

specialists that are independent, transparent, and accountable

• Victims and their organisations are included in the decision-making processes related to OSH

policy

ANROEV

Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims

- ANROEV was initiated as a result of two fire: Kader (in Thailand) and Zhili( In China), which

resulted in death of more than 260 workers..

- ANROEV members from 16 Asian countries.

• ANROEV is a unique network, which primarily consists of victims groups; labour NGOs, Trade

Unions, labour researchers and individual labour activists.

• ANROEV is working for the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) rights of victims and

workers in Asia

Recommendations/suggestions

Group – I

A committee should be formed in each and every sector to monitor the situation of OSH

Role of International Labour Organization be sought to observe the situation

There should be networking at national level to take up the OSH issues

Awareness be created among workers through trainings, workshops, seminars, posters, banners

etc

There should be networking with media to run campaigns for OSH issues

There should be information available for different factories in different sectors regarding their

OSH situation and standards

There should be checking of how the companies got ISO certification

There should be mechanism for collecting data on OSH issues

There should be collaborations with international organizations working on OSH rights of

workers to put pressure on local factories and government

There should be networks and strategies to conduct researches on OSH issues

Group - II

National level OSH issues conference be held

There should be availability of training opportunities and literature on OSH issues in various

sectors in Pakistan and its comparison with the rest of the world

There should be national level networking on the OSH issues

There should be regular contact system between different labour forces and unions to know

each others’ OSH situation

There should be a strategy to implement laws on OSH

There should be effective role of unions in taking up OSH issues

There should be seminars on different issues of OSH

There should be a strategy to keep eye on the ISO and audit system of companies regarding

what they tell the auditors about IOSH issues

Presence and signatures of respective trade union leaders be made compulsory on the

inspection reports of factories to ensure OSH rights

Conclusion of the group work recommendations:

The two-day workshop on OSH issues concluded with the consensus of evolving a national network to

take up the OSH issues. Main focus of this network will be on;

Investigation,

Campaign and

Education

The network will also monitor the situation of working environment in the factories. The network

will also work for data collection on OSH issues and will monitor the inspection process by audit

firms. The workshop also agreed to establish a national level campaign on the OSH issues through

channels including working on the mechanism to engage media in this campaign. The campaign

should also be connected to the international campaigns and groups and organizations working on

OSH issues. The workshop also decided to spread awareness on OSH through area level meetings

and disseminating literature on such issues to create more awareness and evolve an effective plan.

Framework for National Network is presented in the chart below;

Investigation Data Collection

Campaign Action

Collaborate with regional and international groups

Education Awareness Raising

Seminar/ Workshop on OSH

Develop material for education and campaign

Meetings will be held

at provincial level

April, May, June 2013

National level

meeting for

finalization of OSH

Network

August 2013

The workshop ended with the screening of a LEF documentary by Ammar Aziz on the situation of OSH in

power loom factories in Faisalabad in the Punjab province.

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